This question was inspired by [an earlier one](https://buddhism.stackexchange.com/questions/51807/do-any-sub-sects-of-buddhism-have-the-concept-of-eternal-hell) . In [DN27](https://suttacentral.net/dn27/en/sujato?lang=en&layout=plain&reference=none¬es=asterisk&highlight=false&script=latin) , it was mentioned: > As the cosmos contracts, sentient beings are mostly headed for the realm of streaming radiance. I recalled hearing a Dharma talk ages ago that as a great aeon ends, all the lower realms are emptied (perhaps, destroyed?) and beings are reborn into the higher realms. This appeared to be what the above sutra is alluding to. Correct me if I am wrong. Does this mean that all the hell beings (even those in the lowest hell) will also be promoted to the higher realm? What happens to their bad karma, is it suspended? Or is the contraction of the universe halted until these beings had expired their bad karma?

The Abrahamic religions have the belief that condemnation to hell is eternal. Hinduism, despite most of it's sects holding the belief that hell is non eternal, still has one sect that believes otherwise: The dvaita vedanta sect of madhvacharya which believes a certain class of souls can be condemned to eternal hell Are there any sub sects within Buddhism that believe in eternal hell?

Are the heavens and hells in karamdhatu meant to be physical places? I was looking at the abhidharmakośa-bhāsya, and Vasabandhu lists 20 places: 8 hells; 6 heavens; pretas; animals; physical world; and the circle of wind (I'm fairly sure the last one is also a "place" -- sthana). You might think that these are all physical because e.g. animals live among us, but just as the desert is the place of some hell beings (not being included in the main hells, due to not being created through the "force of the actions of beings"), animals primarily live in the "Great Ocean". So I reckon that the heavens and hells are not physical, even-though rebirth there inlcludes all five skandhas, descriptions of suffering there refers to bodies, etc.. Am I right, and if so does that mean they lack the organs of the eye etc.? I am asking not because I want to underplay the suffering of hell beings etc. (avici *is* worse than the desert) but because I'm interested in whether suffering is different there insofar as bodhisattvas, when unmoved by their own suffering in hell, might be better off than they are with the vicissitudes of physical suffering in this human place.

I am reading about these in [Buddhist Cosmology](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhist_cosmology) , and am wondering if they are ordered together (hot and cold) into one sequential list, where it goes (from least severe to most severe): 1. top cold (slight pain) 2. bottom cold 3. top hot 4. bottom hot (pure pain) The cold seems like less pain than the hot, as you can easily experience chattering teeth, and even blisters, in normal routine life. Get down to frostbite and you don't really feel it because you are numb. But enter hot hell, and you immediately are killed and revived over and over again, all the way to pure pain. But maybe they don't move in a sequence as one, and are just two interwoven or separate progressions? How does it work exactly.

I'm very close to becoming a Buddhist, of some strand of Mahayana, but I am having some difficulties with the concept of Heaven(s) and Hell(s). I already know that some such as [Hakuin Ekaku](https://buddhism.stackexchange.com/a/3503/25543) of the Rinzai Japanese Zen Buddhism viewed Heaven(s) and Hell(s) as a state of mind. I've heard the same about the Madhyamaka school of Buddhist philosophy (e.g. Nagarjuna's views). This is a view that I can accept, but I don't think its common in Mahayana sects. Nevertheless, from what I've seen though I wasn't able to confirm, it seems that for many, if not most sects and schools of Mahayana Buddhism view Heaven(s) and Hell(s) as real and literal places. Therefore, my question is whether they're actually literal about how do we know that they're real if we are genuinely unable to verify that they exist, either logically or empirically via experimentation. Also, if you know of any Mahayana sects which view Heaven(s) and Hell(s) as psychological states of mind, do let me know please.

In the **Kammapatha sutta** **AN 3.164(A i 297)** a note concerning the meaning of a passage (written by the author of the page dedicated to the sutta it seems) makes me question, the sutta and note are stated as follows : > Endowed with these three things, bhikkhus, as if one was carried off > and put down there, one is in hell. Which three? One destroys life > oneself, one incites others to destroy life, and one approves of > destroying life.**{1}** Endowed with these three things, bhikkhus, as if > one was carried off and put down there, one is in hell. > Note > > > 1. one approves of destroying life: purchasing dead animals' flesh, in a context where other reasonable harmless choices are available, > cannot be carried out without approving their killing. https://www.buddha-vacana.org/sutta/anguttara/03/an03-164.html It appears the author of the page establishes a link between approving the killing of an animal with the purchase of meat. I would appreciate understanding more about this link being established. (As a personal background I had been a vegetarian for around 5 years but due to digestive issues decided to revert to the consumption (and therefore purchase) of meat which seem to be helping a lot). With mettā.

Two days ago I rescued a wounded dove, it probably got bit by a cat or being shot by a gun. It laid on my front door and ants were eating it like hundreds of them, the eyes were still moving so I picked it up and cleaned it, the wound as well. I fed it for 2 days, gave it a shelter and everything. Looks like it's going well and it's going to recover eventhough I don't know if it's internally broken or not. But this morning my aunt told me it's a baby bird (which is not) I got confused so I tried to put it under the nests around my house and I went back to sleep, at the moment I started to realize the sun is going to come that way and in my mind I thought, it's ok I got my alarm at 10am which would probably not be too hot? and then I fell asleep. I woke up again and saw the sun is burning hot I ran out of my house to pick it up, it died, overheated. I have OCD for overthinking and I feel really guilty that I might really go to hell for this, I'm not entirely Buddhism but my parents are so I tend to believe in karma, especially for animals abuse. I understand that I had good intention to save it but I killed it in the end because of my laziness? careless? stupidity? I don't know what it was, I could've moved it when I realized it but I chose to sleep instead, thinking it would be ok. Am I right that I might just go to hell 50% for this?

I understand that hell is being used for keeping the order of our society. Does hell really exist in Buddhism? As it creates fears instead of freeing one's mind from suffering. It also creates a mechanism of punishment for not believing in the religion as well. If it is written in Tipitaka, how do we know that it wasn't added later by someone that wanted to use it as a rule for making people behave themselves?

My intuition is telling me that since the last level of hell is some kind of a mathematical limit of how stupid a person can get (or how annoying or how evil), there must be a parallel with Planck units, which are the minimum measurable amounts of physical quantities. (or equivalently, maximum, when considered how many you can fit in something else) The Planck time, in this context, to be precise. What is the statistically average duration of a birth in Naraka, the non-stop hell? We could consider that a sort of Planck-lifetime of a being, especially since to the outside observer, a hell lasting billions of years might look much shorter than for the being in hell. Therefore, the Planck-lifetime of a hell being during a single rebirth might actually be comparably short as the physical Planck-time when observed from the outside.

I have read that obedience to the five precepts at least guarantees that practitioners will not fall back into the lower worlds (animal world, wandering spirit world, and hell world) when they are reborn after the present life. So I was wondering if the conversion to Buddhism, the taking of refuge and the beginning to follow the five precepts, "cleansed" the old bad deeds, a bit like baptism among Christians? Does a person who has violated the five precepts, for example by killing or stealing at the beginning of his life, and then halfway through his life until his death starts following the five precepts, still go to hell? Is he definitely condemned to be reborn in hell for his offense?

I vaguely remember reading how some bodhisattva out of compassion went to some hell and then transformed it into a pure land. Does anyone know that story? About which bodhisattva it is? And what's the source for it...

I've been reading up on cosmology and am curious if Lord Suyama of Yama heaven and Lord Yama as judge of the recently deceased are the same figure. The latter is often said to reside in either the hell or preta realms, but since he is also a vaimanikapreta, I can't help but wonder if his time in the higher planes equates to this third level of heaven. Or are the same names simply coincidence? Any thoughts/sources are much appreciated.

I've [posted on this Q&A site before](https://buddhism.stackexchange.com/questions/34557/crippling-fear-of-hellfire-damnation-please-help) when my grandmother just passed away, and some of the answers here really helped me feel a lot better and eased my fear enough for me to go back to my normal life with a better understanding of the teaching, but man it was really short-lived. Today, during the 49th day of my grandmother's passing, part of the rites we were carrying out involved sitting down and reciting the Ksitigarbha sutra and again, all the talk about all the different kinds of hells really got me feeling so irrationally scared. It took me back to the whole deal where I feel like if I lived like a normal human being, even if I'm not really hurting anyone intentionally, I'm being imperfect and sinful for wanting nice things, cracking dark jokes and just generally living my best life as a city girl. (I explained my fear in depth in my previous post) There was this one part that jumped out at me particularly this time--I'm not sure if I intepreted it right but it's something along the lines of, I might think something isn't a big deal (maybe something like a white lie or getting angry/annoyed/impatient in the moment), but I will pay for it in the afterlife or something? And immediately my brain just goes to thoughts of all the hells and damnation I've landed myself into for being well...an imperfect human because that's just how the whole cycle works. And again, I'm tossed into this crippling fear of hell and damnation. I feel so worried and scared I can feel everyone around me getting annoyed with me because I always try to slide the topic into conversations in hopes that someone would call me out for being dumb and tell me I'm completely wrong. If anyone is familiar with the sutra and teachings, could you please enlighten me? I was born into a culturally Chinese Buddhist family. I'd really, really appreciate it. I'm really spiralling right now as I do more research on my own, like how having a drink (alcohol) and wanting to let my hair down is being mindless and thus will bring suffering and damnation, how desire is the root of all suffering and will also bring damnation and so on. I really, really want to live my life to the fullest and have no regrets. I want to build a nice career, strive for the stars, own a nice (even fancy) house and have a drink and party now and then but it's scaring me so much right now my hands and feet feel cold and I can't think of anything else. It feels like everything and anything I want to do for myself is considered an unwholesome/bad/selfish and will cause me to go to hell and so on and it's literally terrifying me so much. I'm only 22 and I used to feel so excited and full of life and hungry for the adventure and love and fun life brings but now I have so much of this fear and thoughts I can't seem to be or love myself. It's gotten me feeling that self-love is bad too and I'm just gravely afraid of everything and I feel so crippled and helpless just being myself. I really feel like I can't be myself without feeling like I'm going to wander to hell after I've lived out my life. I'm so scared and desperate. I used to never want to settle for the ordinary, always wanting to live my life out to the fullest and working for all the pretty and nice things in life (without intentionally hurting other people) and just living a cosy, carefree and happy life as a vibrant, free-spirited girl but now I have so many reservations and I feel so, so scared. Please be rational and gentle with me, I'd greatly appreciate it.

The sanghata sutra says that upon death a person that abandons the Holy Dharma will have his dreams broken and go to hell for 8 aeons. > The Blessed One said: “Sarva-shúra, limitless are the migrations of sentient beings who disparage the holy Dharma. Limitless too are their future lives. Sarva-shúra, sentient beings who abandon the holy Dharma will experience feelings for an eon in the sentient beings’ great hell of Lamentation; for an eon in the Crushing Hell, an eon in the Hot Hell, an eon in the Extremely Hot Hell, an eon in the great hell of Black Lines, an eon in the great hell of Avíci, an eon in the great hell called Hair Rising, an eon in the great hell of Calling Out ‘Alas!’ and, Sarva-shúra, they will have to experience the sufferings of these eight great hells for eight eons.” So if someone converts to another religion he will go to hell?

My original belief used to be that as long as you are a decent good person without any intentions to hurt others, you'll be fine. Meaning that no matter what religion you follow, no matter how flawed you are as a person (stubborn, short-tempered, basically all the imperfections of a human), you will not be damned to hell. To me, it used to be that there are so many religions and so many hells and heavens that comes with them, but they teach one main thing: to love and to be kind, and that would be all that we had to follow. However, this belief was recently shaken with my grandmother's passing. She was a buddhist. I thought that because she was a good lady who never really harmed anyone directly, she would be at peace and with God/Buddha, but throughout her 5-day funeral service, there were so many things to follow (offering incense, chanting etc.) to ensure she moves on, and I developed this fear that if these rituals and rules weren't followed properly, she would go to hell/not be able to move on. I'm an anxious person. I get fixated on things. On the final two nights of her funeral service we had to sit down and chant from some scripture books to help my grandma move on (again, what happens if there's no one doing that? Say a Buddhist that doesn't have a family who knows to follow these customs/a Buddhist with no family/a person of any other religion?). While reciting some of the scriptures, though difficult, I briefly read something about how humans are imperfect for wanting good things, being lustful, and basically all the things in human nature that makes us flawed and of course, all the very specific different kinds of hell that comes with. It feels like we're all comforting ourselves that my grandma is resting in peace now, but this huge part of me has this crippling fear that my grandma (as well as the rest of us) will not rest in peace and instead be suffering at the end of our lives for being imperfect humans. I'm only 22, and I start having this intense fear of doing virtually anything as a human. I'm afraid of not being wise and selfless like old monks, I'm afraid of wanting to strive for anything, or ranting about any dissatisfaction, feeling upset by things, having fun, treating myself with self-love and basically anything at all. I feel so crippled by the fear I wake up unhappy and afraid to live and afraid to die as well. It's consuming me so much and I'm deathly afraid of it, because I'm spiralling. The more I read and research, the more afraid and unsettled I get. I even read that feeling fear and anxiety is bad and I'll also be damned for that. Could someone kind enough maybe please offer me some words of comfort and lead me back to a rational mindset? I've been Buddhist since birth, but like I said above, I've always thought of Buddhism as a religion about love, forgiveness, and karma. Karma meaning if you do something bad, you can something on par in return. Not in a sense that if I feel anxious, live in fear I get reborn as an animal living in fear. That just makes me feel the whole religion is so scary like one misstep or one imperfection as a human, and you'll be damned. This is still a grieving period for my family, and I want to be there for my mother for the loss of my grandmother, but I'm so scared right now. I want to be able to cheer her up, treat ourselves to nice meals and desserts, watch movies and basically just have fun like a human living their best lives, but after reading into Buddhism I feel like that's all wrong and there is no forgiveness like there is in Christianity or something else. Maybe I got the whole perception wrong, but could somebody please help me? I'm not trolling, so please use kind words. Thank you so much.

I read about how instead of believing if slander is done then that person will goto Avicii Hell. I don’t see this discussed much when researching Buddhism, it seems mainly mentioned by Nichiren? Does anyone have more information about what this means? What is everyone’s thoughts on this? Why isn’t there more information on something so big?

I have seen this a few times in various places, although I haven't read it in any suttas, but I am guessing there might be some that talk about this.

Every religion has a God and Satan, heaven and hell. Religion by definition means deification of a Supreme Being or worship of any deity. Monotheistic religions, like Islam and Christianity, have a single God and a single devil/Satan. While polytheistic religions like Hinduism have gods and goddesses, and male and female demons. Is there any place for God and Satan, heaven and hell in Buddhism? What did Gautama Buddha say about it?

Now this is often raised whenever a monk teaches and talks about the five precepts. They often say that these are not, like in the judeo christian faith, commandments and that no higher entity or something will punish one. Now to my question: These monks belief in post mortem rebirth (I do not) and they therefore employ wrong speech regarding the aspect of punishment. One is getting punished (hell realm etc.) if one is not in line with the precepts (based on their view on post mortem rebirth). Can anyone explain this phenomena?

Yesterday while reading a book suddenly my mind generated the following visions: I saw a girl in a white dress being tortured in this very unpleasant place which smelled bad and was horrible , I saw her being raped by this creature who looked horrific , again and again these visions came to me in the night. What could these visions mean ? Are they trying to warn me of some bad karma ripening. As it is said by many Tibetan teachers that they get warnings of future happenings in dreams. Although this was not a dream.